whatever you do, i'm fascinated by the human side of it. i mean, in many cases, justices -- you can see the justices have reservations about capital punishment. >> abc news verett raps on the capital punishment cases that defined the supreme court tonight at nine on "after words," part of booktv this weekend on c-span2. and now, david profiles the public school system, once, one of the worst in the state. union city now graduates 9 o% of the high school students, and 60% of them go to college arguing these gapes have been achieved by emphasis on early education, supportive teachers, and outreach to parents. this is about an hour and ten minutes.

>> creation and wind down the division implemented in the court decision. it's clear that i'm not an educator. i didn't know what to do, but fortunately, i'd spent some time in union city, and i had discovered that even though this is in hudson county, even though this is -- that this was a story that needed to be told, and i used union city as the example for the other 30 avid districts, and thank god for union city. i wouldn't have known what to do otherwise. david and i are here tonight to talk about this very important book. it's very important in union city, but this is a book that's important for the whole country, and in talking about it, i want to start with a pizza party. a pizza party that took place

today. i think in washington school; is that right? >> in washington school. >> so here we have this scholar author from berkley, california who's come toupon city to throw a pees sai party, and i'd like this scholar author to explain himself. david? >> well, i was lucky enough to get to spend a year here in union city, and it's been a really a transformative experience for me. a lot of that time i was in washington. remember when i was told i have would be in rushes elementary school and shared that news with fred, one of the architects in the transformation, he said to me, god, union city must be confident they are sending you to washington school, not one of the elite schools, it's, like, an ordinary school. i spent a lot of time in room 210's 3rd grade classroom with kids -- [applause] and alinaa, would you stand up

and -- [applause] and that's where i was mr. david to that group of kids, and i'm sure -- 8-year-olds are afx gnat, and i was mobbed so much that, you know, we worked, okay, table one, you mob mr. david. pizza party was a tradition, and, so today, you know, i was doing a public tv show, and i'm here tonight, but, you know, in a lot of ways, the best part of the day was the pizza parties thrown for the kids who are now 5th graders, and who, i said i'm stickingaround in your lives for a good while so stories i tell in the book starts there. it works its way up the ladder, and it starts there because the very heart of what any good school system has to do is to

connect talented teachers, engage students in a challenging curriculum. that's the nub. everything buildings out from there. that's why we're there. it's where the emotional bond was formed, but i roam beyond that school, and as a pleasure to write about it in the book. >> so, this is a very stubborn topic in american life. it's been something that is why aren't we doing a better job educating kids from poor families when they go to school only with other kids from poor families? we've been talking about this for a half century. there have been thousands of books written about it. there have been scores of commissions formed to analyze and report on it and there have

been as sandy mentioned, a lot of silver bullets proposed and for teachers, principles, in city school districts, seems like there's a new fad every 18 months that comes from washington or trenton saying this is the answer. improbable scholars, the information seems to be the kind of indisputable work and practice and objectives that nobody could argue with, so why is it so hard? why -- first of all, why is it worth the book to point out things that seem like almost platitudes. >> well, i thought about calling the book "tortoise beats hare" because it's telling a story that's not been told in a long time. if you read the media, watch tv, check out blogs on the web, it's

all about crisis, all about problems, all about what is not working, and it is about shutting down failing schools, get rid of the no account teachers, bring in teach for america folks, open up a lot of charter schools in the district, and that's the model or the idea that's been used for the last decade-pollution under a republican administration and a democratic administration. it is just the latest in the series of silver bulleted that people offered up. the latest, you can just change the structure and everything else changes. i think what union city teaches is or reminds better is that there are a handful of time tested, well-proven, well

established game changing strategies that the school district can adopt, and why -- a word about that in a minute, but why write about them because people forgot about them or taken them for granted, but what i tell you now, it is like plati tude, and any educator with a pulse willed nod and say surings but the trick is, actually, go from saying, yeah, that's a great idea to actually making it happen, so in union city, you start with an amazing preschool system, and i know susie is here someplace or other in the audience. where are you? [applause] i spent a fair amount of time in her class, preschool class at hospice. i walked in there, thought, why am i not three years old? this is so cool. anything that any kid of

whatever age might want to do is going on there. i watched a lesson, last time i was there, i watched a lesson, and there's to pay toe pancake, and it's a hanukkah tradition, a jewish hanukkah tradition, and the kids read about an old lady who, you know, is making them, a great story to prep themselves for this. the lesson was, the 3 and 4-year-olds are going to make them, cooking on a real honest to god stove. every aspect of that lesson from the picking up the potato, smelled it, like the onon, what do they call this? that little spoon is a teaspoon. everybody had a hand chopping the vegetables, chopping the

potatoes and onions. the "p" sound in pimentos like the "p" sound in peppers. what happens when we put this in a food processer? let's find out. i spent time teaching, dreaming about teachable moments every second of that lesson is a teachable moment, we visited other classrooms, and they are ready, do you want to try some? i said, sure, mid-morning, i was hungry. i took a plate, and i grabbed one, and there they were, and sour cream and apple sauce, the traditional things to serve with them, and this was a latino community. what do you think was served with them? salsa. [laughter] let me tell you, salsa improves them. [laughter] i'm giving up on apple sauce

substituting salsa, so, you know, throughout the conversation, i'd like to intersperse stories like that. i think that at a time when people are focused on system the, focused on politics, focused on adult games, power play games, i don't know if you know this, but in los angeles recently, there was a hotly contested school board election, thank goodness you don't have the elections here so you don't have to go through that nightmare. $4 million was spent to defeat one candidate who had -- whose sin was he questioned the endless growth of charter schools wondered if teacher should be entirely evaluated on the basis of students' test scores. in a world in which that kind of adult game playing with the kids forgotten, is what the conversation looks like, where people talk about the market as a model as though education is like selling ipads.

the union city story is an old story and a neglected story to be revived. one other thing, the book is a celebration of union city, but it's not just union city that's done so well. i looked around the country at're districts nobody knows about. hear of aldean, texas? scrubby country, about as poor as union city, latino, african-american, smattering of white folks with half as much money as union city has to spend on its kids. they are doing well. improving achievement, narrowing achievement gap, and what are they doing? very much the same things as union city. start with preschool, work up

the curriculum. realize if you have a lot of kids coming from other countries, you better have a really good bilingual program, a rich bilingual program that pays attention to language and how well they do in academic subjects. today you're in biling wall, tomorrow eng lib-only which is what happens in districts. in california, there's esl classes. day one. here kids transition slowly. this school district knows what educators know. that is it's really important to get a grounding in the home language before learning a second language, and it's important to hold on to that language, and being biling wall in the society is a huge advantage. they come from homes where there's not a lot of books,

parents work all the time, and they make the meals, take care of the kids, but they don't have time to read to them. there is not a whole lot of rich language at home so the school system realized you better soak kids in words. lots of great literature, lots of stuff to read, lots and lots of writing. all sorts of writing. you know, you want to get kids beyond the mad, glad, sad vocabulary to the rich words they have? in other places, there's the teachers in the audience and the add min straiters know well, teachers are basically the punching bag, and, you know, that's a sad, impopular story that they use for short term political gain. it does a great disservice. here, the frequent assessment of

students and they serve two purposes, pinpointing where kids have problems. you know, just where a student needs to be helpedded. they pin point where teachers, who are struggling, have problems. sco they provide information that will help the schools help the teachers get better. there's a lot of talk about how america needs to bring in teachers from the elite schools and they ought to be from a top of the classes. most of the folks in union city are lifers. that is to say grew up around here, maybe moved here as kids from cuba or greece or someplace else, but here, once here, stayed within 50 miles of the place, went to local schools that nobody outside of east coast would know anything about, and when i go into those

classes, i see some okay teaching. i see a lot, very good teaching, and i see some amazing teachings, that teaching that deserves to be on a documentary of good teaching. that just didn't happen. it happened because of the coaching, because of the mentoring, because teachers work together. that's another part of the story. you've got principles who build a culture so they are not working in isolation but working together, so you got an administration, a central administration that is figured out how to create out of the system of schools where people are doing their own thing, a school system for the common curriculum so a family's moved from one neighborhood to another. they get -- the kids get what's going on in school. it's a curriculum in which teachers in the system, the major hand in shaping so that there's ownership of the

curriculum, and the educators in the room will know about these meetings called face-to-face meetings. twice a year, knowing reactions, they know all too well about face-to-face meetings. twice a year, every school ?t district, the superintendent and top administrations spend a morning or afternoon with the principle and the chief add min straiters in the school, and the discussion is always the same. where have you been? where are you since we last talked? where are you now in the school? what's working? where do you need to go? so there's a great preschool curriculum. the preschool high scope curriculum boils it down to three words, map, do, review. at union city's face-to-face meetings, taking a great preschool curriculum, applying it to the way in which you work

the system. works for preschoolers, why not for adults? in the business world, they talking about continuous improvement. you keep your eye on the ball. you keep focusing. you keep paying attention because you're never, ever done. this school system has gotten better and better and better slowly, undramatically, so folks in new jersey knew about the system. a lot of folks in new jersey knew about the system before, but now a lot of people will know, and what they're going to learn, i hope, is towards tortoise beats hare. when i was here, and at the face-to-face, john presented a lot of the data, very characteristically, well-organized, impressive, impeccable presentation, and

then sandy sanger said, david, you've been around for a while, do you have anything to say? that caught me by surprise, loss at a words with something to say which was union city is a great -- union city high is a great urban high school. that's wonderful. i want to come back here in five years and hear people talk about union city as a great high school, no excuses; right? for the fact it's in the poor, tough city, a great high school, and everything i know about this high school that it's well on its way to that. takes a long time, and it takes one more thing, and that is the engagement of the community of a mayor, a mayor who never sleeps, a phone number you'll find in the book because he hands it out

on the business card. have it in your hand. [applause] i look around, driving around the city with someone, what a great park, what as interesting area. what's that plaza doing there. oh, you know? all, you know, because of a mayor who is very effective here, very effective in trenton, gets to talk about the schools as bragging rights in trenton, gets to bring home the bacon, like this bay cop that we're in the middle of. pretty good, yeah? i mean, not bad. [laughter] you get a community. that is engaged in the schools, and that didn't happen by accident. you go back 25 years ago, people would have talked about union city as a case study of how to fail urban latino kids. the students were doing so badly

academically that the state was about to take over the schools. it was about to do to union city what it's just done to camden this week. that's a bit of history that probably most people, many people in the room don't know because it took a lot of all that kind of planning of system building to get from here to there, and it took a very supportive political world, and it took is very engaged community, you know? there's many, many different groups in this town, and i was saying to my visitor, yeah, there's, you know, all of the -- all the latino calltures, you know, you have a civic jewish community; right? you have a muslim community, really? this this little place? yeah, lot of goings-on in ownership, and the measure of

people's commitment to the school, good part to do with the parent liaison. there was a mechanic in washington school where i was who knew every one of those families and every one of the kids. the kid comes into the school late or he is on the phone to mom, what's going on, something happening there? if a parent can't afford a winter coat, is having problems getting a green card, neats help with housing, they know they can go to maria. at the september parent's night, the first time, first month i was here, about a month into the term, it was pouring. it was one of those really, umbrella was useless kind of nights, and i thought nobody's going to come to parents' night. well, there was not an empty seat in washington school auditorium, 80% to 90% of the kids had a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, someone close to the child there. that's key to this as well. that didn't just happen. good teaching just didn't

happen. great early education didn't just happen. it took -- before her working with sandy to build, to realize how important early education was, at a time when lots of superintendents and others said, oh, that's just baby sitting. the school district figured out early that's the essential starting point. plan, do, review. keep developing. keep changing. keep adapting. keep working. it's -- people say to me, what's the secret? there is none. the secret is do the work. it's hard, tough work. you know the music. you can read the music. now play it. >> david, you're a dangerous perp, i think. [laughter] here you are after the national conversation, which is emphasized that school districts cannot be trusted.

urban districts in particular are not to be trusted. they can't do the work. they're just bureaucrats who stumbled over each other and send out memos that nobody pays any attention to, and don't deal with the problems of the kids or the teachers. now you're saying that the district has got to be central in changing the way schools work, that we've ousted the district from taking leadership, providing the data, comparative data, working with teachers, developing the curriculum with teachers, figuring out what works with kids and what doesn't? i mean, this is dangerous stuff you're talking about. >> you're right. you can't do it from remote control. you can't do it by fiat from trenton or washington. if there isn't respect, if there aren't the abrassos in the

school district, if there's not the dedication and the commitment, it's not going to happen. now, i certainly don't want to say that you can leave any school district on its own and life is going to be great. were it otherwise, camden would not be in the picture today. i do think my experience is that if you place trust and confidence in people, and you're willing to help them, they are not likely to rise to the occasion. we don't have a choice. talk about charter schools. well, there's great charter schools. the schools do a fabulous job of educating kids, but they educate a fraction of a fraction of 1% of kids in the country. overall, charter schools don't do better or worse than public schools, but the more important point is that they don't have the bandwidth. you can't build an entire -- you

can't educate 60 million kids -- 60 million kids with a series of charter schools. we don't have the choice. we have to rely on public schools, and win of the ironies is all the people with whom i hope i'm a pleasant threat to them at least, not a vicious threat. all those folks who say, look as what's going on in fin land, singapore, korea, norway, wherever they want to point, and they talk about charter schools and market value. they seem to forget that every one of the places they like has a very strong public school system and the best of them trust teachers and schools to do the right thing by their students and give them the kind of help and support and respect that they're entitled to that enables them to do that job, so i'm kind of hoping that we've.

living through a trend time, another one of those panacea moments. you know, it's a let's hold teachers' feet to the fire and see what happens. you know, that -- that victory of that school board guy in los angeles, out spent 4-to-1, wins his election. by the way, a million of the dollars were contributed by bloomberg, and now that he's leaving new york, he wants to be mayor of los angeles. [laughter] what's he care about a los angeles school board election? the fact that that candidate was able to win, that incumbent who was asking the right questions was able to win, that's important, so i bring you a fact that is either inspiring or depressing, depending upon how you read it. a friend of mine who is close to the obama administration read

the book and said, you know, duncan, the secretary of education, he would agree with every word in the book. i thought that's inspiring in one sense. somebody else shares the values, but it's depressing because if that is what he believes, why is he doing what he's doing? [applause] >> i think the commissioner of education in nucialgz agrees with every word in the book too and stated publicly at times that high quality early childhood is important and it pays off, and, yet, in terms of what is emphasized and regulations written and the sense that is spread out is not at all in that direction. [applause] >> i can't tell if they are applauding or -- [laughter] >> well, here's -- i don't want you to fall into a policy haven

trap because the trap is to believe tomorrow will be just like today only a little bit more so. i take you back to ancient history. january 2011. [laughter] if i told you that a mother -- merchant in tunis is fed up with the corruption of the government in that society set himself a fire to bring down the government and would ignite a revolution across the arab countries, you would have carted me away to the academic equivalent of the loonie bin, but that's what happened. that's how change happens. that's now no child left behind happened. it was a big change. i don't know what's going to happen next year or the year after, but i do hope that this book, you know, and what i have to say in talking about the book

just puts a finger on the scale, the other side, sort of a finger that speaks to the importance of teaching and learning and good curriculum that core of the story that reformers seem to have forgotten about. >> i think overcoming the sense of the awful lot of educators responsible for other urban districts, that nothing really happens educationally until first grade, and that this supervised play is nice and it helps with baby-sitting problems of working parents, and that's what preschool is. overcoming that point of view, which is, i mean, afraid pretty wide spread through the educational community, is a very important step. >> i fear that's true. i hope it's becoming less true. i was giving -- i wrote a book called "sand box investments," about the importance of preschool, and i was asked to give a talk to a bunch of school

board members and superintendents in california, and one school board member says, but, you know, if we're going to make preschool part of the program, how are we going to get the teachers to be as good as our regular teachers? i said, you know, great preschoolteachers are the best teachers in the world. the real question is are they going to be able to teach your teachers how to do a better job teaching? one of those ah-ha moments, and i talked to the superinten didn't who invited me there just last week, and she said, you know, people still talk about that remark. ..

city run preschools to create a system. this master teachers and into the kindergartners so now we've got a keener curtains because look more like preschools. so here's a little secret i would share with you folks. good educationists preschool education may developmentally appropriate for older kids.

[applause] the mac so you walk into the union city classroom, you're my likely to see kids working in small groups than you are to see the teacher stinnett in front of the whole class and that's a difficult and to teach. it's a difficult thing to break a habit created in schools of education and are deemed by supervisors and principles in a lot of places. >> it is hard. it's really easy to talk about these groups, kids breaking into groups, but if there's five or six in a class, the computer is going to break down will not get this equipment working with the blocks are missing and doing those exercises and you've got

to have as not only the back of the head, but all around your head. what happiness and some teachers really never got it. it is tough. i appreciate that. trying it, they see they can accomplish more that way. what i found impressive about being here is that good middle-school classes and high school classes and watch the same group projects growing not. the result is a return into small groups, a lot more discussion. i didn't see and i have a passport. i never saw a teacher just eating her reading. they might be talking, but never reading a lecture.

i never saw students been disengaged, let alone out of control and that's pretty amazing if you think about adolescence and the conventional wisdom. it's supposed to be a scary place. this place is an exciting place because you really seek to and teachers respect to one another and doing the work together. >> the last question i ask is about the fact that there's lots of city districts with a focus on the paradigm for it grade at which arts test has produced about an young american kids, aged nine years old do pretty well compared to kids across the globe. but then it right now and it isn't true by the time they are

third team and there is a lack of engagement by lack of interest. it is textbook driven, and a chop your test construction seems so different. >> we know a lot less about middle-school and high school at what to do while they are and i also think at this moment, one of the new trans-is you've got a great to read by the end of third grade. it would work a revolution in any schools. i'm under the assumption the rest of it follows automatically. so something most people haven't hung out classrooms don't know if the books he read in fourth grade are a whole lot harder than the books you read their grade. i was perfectly happy reading

the fourth grade kids novels. no pictures. what a change in the third grade. the people stop and say we've done great, but this is part of the work. you've got to work out the ladder. it becomes harder and harder to persuade teachers to break out of old ways of doing things. there requires role models, to reduce cover supports of all kinds. and it's not going to happen overnight and it's not going to happen if every teacher and it's never going to be perfect. this high school is amazing that 90% of these kids are graduating , but it's worrisome that many of these kids are graduating as precision case. they are passing the tests, getting out of here, enrolling

in college. but let me tell you a dirty little secret about the high school exam. if you just pass the exam coming year in eighth grade student. if you go to college and you just pass the exam, i can guarantee you you'll wind up in a remedial class. he had zero dropout are great. this is the next challenge. so it's appropriate to pause for more than a moment and say 90% graduation rate. i know in a country that comes close. we're talking about 45% in new york. everybody in the system knows the story isn't over here, that

to set higher and higher expert haitians for the junior ict is to become standard fare. not just for kids, but all the kids. i'm not telling tales. this is something everybody in the high school knows or appreciates. people were made that happen. i want to come back here in five years and this is going to be a great high school. there is the will, the energy, the community commitment, they engaged kids, the mutual respect, the trust. all the ingredients are here. so people have come up to me all day today. i was doing the pizza party or hanging out with matt gross at

washington high, the teachers i got to know really well, the principle they are and what i over at vickie dixon's middle-school in intel, people said thank you for writing the book. so i want to say thank you union city. as a privilege to be here. it's a life-changing experience to be here and if i can in some small way take this conversation not just here, but other communities across the country and maybe into those offices in washington as well, i will be back the care and hospitality i received a notice there appears to thank you thank you very much. [applause] >> david, i dare not ask a question, but it is the berberian we asked members of the audience that there's questions or comments to this.

let me just remind you this is being taped for c-span. if you have a question, don't ask until the microphone is in your hands, please. i don't mean to scare anybody. are there questions? over here. >> just a comment, but i'm a teacher here at union city high and i am proud to teach here. i think one reason we are successful as we are like a family. [applause] it's just so nice to hear your support of us in public schools in general because charter schools are not the answer and i don't think any charter school can accomplish the same we've

done and will continue to do. i appreciate everything. [applause] >> one remarkable thing about that, the family nature of this place. the pep rally in the year ago by john canady this principle. they they are and you get the students shouting. i thought if we had shouted the name of our principle, they would've been a word before that i wouldn't want to repeat in mixed company. [laughter] so it is a wonderful community and it takes a ton of work to maintain it and that is something everybody here get. >> at evening. thank you for being here.

in the countries around the world, where education is very successful, beyond respect to educators, educators are actually celebrated and put on a pedestal somewhat to two. is that part of the success in this district? the mac i think so. it is important when i talked to teachers here, they would talk about their kids. not just their students, but almost people come from here, grew up here, so you know, america has yet to figure out the kids in places like union city are the future. we can provide a novel education in so many places and i'm not going to leap at last some are

not going to be a great economy is strong political system. this place has figured out the importance of just that kind of commitment connection to people who are in this community. the book is a celebration of union city and i'm trying to be a critical friend here. so it's not all roses as you just hurt my comment a second ago. but it is great in a way that is not unique. other places have learned the same basic lessons. nobody knows about them. in those towns, the teachers are celebrated soil.

i know how hard it is to teach and how painful it is to hear governor christie tucker about teachers as drug dealers. what an unbelievably appalling knowledge. it is important that the community knows respect values good teaching and good teachers. >> at evening. i am on the board at the jersey city public school system in hearing a lot of what you said tonight is reassuring. we have a new superintendent everything are in the right track and if we stay focused and keep on doing the right thing, the basic things we talked about, we have a good chance of turning our system around. my question is how much does the

adoption of the core curriculum standard change the game as far as the challenging curriculum to talk about? >> i want to say a word about school systems in general because one point i didn't make direct only is how important stability is. into many cities, the schoolboys pick his superintendent who says i've got the answer. she comes energy comes in and changes every day and there's no miracle. there's another board of election. insurgents come in and say fire the bone. this person really has the miracle and the average urban school superintendent classier than three years. you can't do anything in a system as complicated. so they are both sitting in the

room tonight. 24 years and counting. [applause] knows superman here, another one of those knows it is a solid hard-working folks who are doing the work. a political system and a community system that appreciates that and his patients he was happening, so i hope that would be true in jersey city as well. what is going to be interesting, a retired educator sought to be be shaky about to see what the assessment look like developed around a common core standards. the standards and cells are very similar to what it is you've been expecting kids to do. if you are in a state where

basically all of the teaching of member station in the test is multiple choice, i'll just not problems. has your third-grade problem. you're going to have trouble with that. i looked at the third grade in the first high-stakes tests. there are word problems. there is in a single number problems in the book. the passages they've been asked to read and are our three and four page and a half hour. if kids are they are in as many aspects of that testing regime, particularly the amount of energy that it trains from good teaching right now, when i was talking to my kids, what's going

on, i was hearing about the math journals and they were tired of writing because the writing they were doing was so formulaic. that she died. in terms of encouraging kids to think, to read complex passages, new jersey has one of the state's best prepared to move in the direction of common standards. the craziness of no child left behind was washington said you guys figure out which you want to teach and will beat up on you if you don't do it. this is backwards. other states got together and said here's what everybody does because one of my favorite third-graders is now in iowa. fractions in union city, fractions in des moines. and, you know, old man of the sea survives in mind, can swim all the way.

but that now is that to this day to figure out how to bring the students along in ways that are in is crazily punitive as you have now. you are going to end one of the great things changing that goes away and don't talk about how much improvement kids make overtime. it makes so much more sense because here's another secret. some egghead in trenton dreamed this up and produced a number. depends on how much the superintendence screen. you're not being rigorous enough to raise the score. it's not a magic formula. what is magic is watching kids to better over time.

so i think it's a miserable time because he's got the old ties and a new curriculum and everything going on at once. i would've said the right to be a moratorium on testing for a couple years until you get the common core standards and make it happen. [applause] but you know, i've got every confidence, which overall does really well that should go through this tough time and will rise to the challenge. >> hi, i am a teacher here at union city high school, but i'm also the teacher of the year and was the union city district. i'd like to thank you sincerely because the school is our home

and how you have in your book, if you build it they will calm. with a great educational leader such as mr. gennady and the administration manner, they are the driving train to this locomotive and our children are our heart and school and you've captured in your book and am very impressed. thank you. [inaudible] >> thank you. i am a professor, but i've also been a journalist. i kept hearing all these good things. so i kept nudging around. i talked to john kennedy is a thank you for state office things. i couldn't find anybody that had a bad word to say about him. paris principles, that's pretty

astonishing. i think you're taking a great building a new, the principal, staff, teachers make a great home out of it. think about the performers we've heard in the drummers were outside. apparently the word came to your principle this morning. i want music because it is a celebration. 30 seconds later you get the drum corps out there entertaining us. so it's an amazing place. all of you deserve credit for what it is that she's done. [applause] congratulations. that's really sent pain. >> thank you for coming. we do have the gifted and

talented, which i'm sure you've had a chance to spend some time at the woodrow wilson school. my question is not so much bias that was succeeding so well because that answer is clear. my question is, what is your feeling about the arts integrated nature of that curriculum taught there and can we get the next leg up by seeking to generalize that model? >> i will say that when i was here i wished i could call myself because i'd be in a classroom or i'd want to be in union hill. i was hanging out with mr. john gonzalez, an astonishing teacher at the freshman academy and i would want to see what was happening the port of entry class in high school.

so i didn't spend time in the gifted and talented program. so let me answer your question in generalities. kids respond to exit haitians and what it is the brightest kids can do is something other kids can get excited about. one of the sad consequences on reading and not is the further down the academic ladder you kids, the more chilling of reading and not there is. the more joyless the occasion is. it shot or about washington school in the winter and spring and the book is called where fun comes to die and be reborn. it's not a very joyful time. that school has just come to life totally.

yes indeed, the kind of creativity that you can nurture within the school, if woodrow wilson was an incubator for new curricular ideas that can spread elsewhere, that is great because it's a school that represents the highest expectations and there's no reason that can't be more broadly applied. my experience and whether you're teaching preschoolers or grad students is cancer often is not going to rise to the level of expectation you set for them. that's what the district is doing and the continuing challenge, even as santa celebrants, i'm also a mac to make that happen and i hope you guys keep pushing that. >> at evening. i am one of the leaders here at the high school as well. your book has definitely captured the essence of union

city education. but while we are basking in the glow of your book, with all of the other books about education that have been proliferated over the past several years, do you feel that your book perhaps yourself for making address of the government processes that control the educational system so perhaps this can continue in other districts will follow as well? >> i think you ask it the right way, that it is district to district and if that's the right question, the answer is yes. this is really we had a kind of fashion yesterday at rutgers that group of policymakers and superintendence and they were engaged for the generalization,

but what it treat me with the number of people is that this is exciting, would love to talk more. with that to have you spent a little time with us. we really are interested in doing something because at the district level, this is a moment when educators are sincerely interested in rebuilding urban schools and understanding that there is to learn. you have to superintendence and he will tell you their scores around the region and around the country that want to know what it's doing. they want to know the port of entry program and how that's working. they want to know about face-to-face in the great preschool program developed out of more than 30 schools. so i do think place by place, change will happen. will something happen in

washington? those guys missed out on the lesson about works and plays well with others, controls their emotions, does the macdowell, use your words. all that stuff that preschool is instilling in kids. i don't know what's going to go on in washington. at the local district, when i'm talking to superintendents, school board members and the like, i think so. i think this story that i'm telling about union city and other places as well focused on union city says it is a success story, but it is a hard work story. you could do it if you're willing to put in the sweat equity to make it happen. that is the story. a lot of educators who work really hard are willing to make

that happen. i read a book like this, mostly as the entry ticket to the national conversation about how you build strong schools. so if i can be useful and k.a handful of people in other communities across the country to say we want to try this will talk to the people in union city because of the work and will do a whole bunch of things, then i've really done my job. the book is the first act, what happens is you are suggesting. we will see. fingers crossed. >> hi, i am the speech they are passed, an avid district. i am so excited to be here and here everything and i hear the teachers talk about being a

family. i worked for 26 years and i love everyone i teach with, but did you have any problems when it came to the union as far as meeting with the indian president and did everyone get on board? i've got to hear about your administration had that everyone got on board. we haven't had a sip or intended for longer than two years. i've probably had told superintendence. i'd love being here and i'm so happy it that you, but i need some hope. [laughter] i have to teach for a really long time still. >> of governor has his chrystie way, longer than you might have in mind. >> exactly.

>> i really empathize with you. i was talking to a teacher who's been teaching science, a very tough town. they are going to be awkward or kids. they're going to make like server pro -- miserable. i brought the question to someone wiser than i am and said unless you get the support built into that school, unless that school becomes connected to the community, and a teacher can't it aloud. you can't do it in isolation. let me talk generally about unions because one of the things people were going to say to me is this is a district in which the union has worked pretty closely, pretty hand in glove with the administration to make things happen.

the one example i tell you about is when the connector teachers complain to their union rep, fascists wrong. and what's happened rather strong unions i think about a town called sanger california. new teachers beware. you come back 10 years later, everybody and was uneasy.

or not enough for the job security. let's talk through what it is we think we need to do. more and more, that's had been. more and more that's a great day. it is just essential that unions generally become part of the reform conversation because that is where were going to make its folks have an agenda. so the unions, the teachers and school folks is going to be attention, but there's a natural alliance because at the end of the day i read a book called kids first. if you sat down with the facilitator. let's focus on the kids. let's go back there and build around that.

they are not playing games. the union folks on superintendents and parents, were kids once. all the folks in this business because they want to help kids. unless he ran a chain of charter schools come you don't go investigate rich. so you've got to work with that caring. if you've got students coming and going, it's not going to happen. the union and the school board really need some hard come to jesus sessions about what it is they're doing and they are all hoping and killing off they

could district. with respect, teacher's eyes are important, but you are wasting all this kids lies because of those adult games then that is a shame. it's more than a shame. it is really a crime. >> one more question. >> hi, i am a 12th grade at community high school. my question is how come you choose this high school cliques >> that's a great question. why did i choose union city? is a semi-long story. the last book i wrote was a book about five big ideas, one of which was what are the things that are really essential to give kids a decent shot at life? i wasn't focusing on schools because everything we need good rigorous schools and all the rest of it. one of those big ideas is great.

so i went to a guy named steve are not, alan 3-d, codirectors at december rutgers, who know everything about early education. where should i go? go to union city. okay, i believe you will go to union city. i didn't go on my own because unions piteously clannish place. some professor shows up and says i miss professor. tell me about your schools. i'm not sure but the reception would've been. i had a voucher for a guy who is sitting over here. he came at me and said basically he is a good guy and courtney somebody who the district as well and trust well. so i spent some time looking at preschools and i knew it through eighth grade, reading and math test scores were really good. so i was in one of the schools that has a preschool through

eighth grade program. i thought i am going to wander in the school and duck in a classroom and see what they are like. i was impressed by what i saw. so i thought the nice thing about being professors you get these things called sabbaticals. you get a year doing something else away from home. why don't i come back here and spend a year hanging out and see what's happening because there's been a lot of books about great teachers in grade schools. there's no books about grade school systems in the system is a very important part of the story. so the superintendent, the mayor, the school board all said it is a great idea. they all said we trust you. go anyplace you want. it is a privilege to be here and i hope they've earned their

trust and i hope you read. i'll say this. does someone really want to read about this stuff? if you buy the book, which was somebody in high school he don't like it, let me know when i will give you your money back. but we learned about how markets work. i hope you take it as a long letter from a guy who's been a good chunk of time here come i didn't know what i was going to get into, really became attached to the place, didn't lose my sense of perspective. and i'm not going away because i can assure you the folks i've come to know will be in for the rest of my life.

[applause]

>> you like to think it's an important book in the sense that tells you how the court works. there's so few books that explain the process. how did they decide these cases? what are they saying to one another? is what the court five to four.

to their personal feelings get into it? it's not just about capital punishment. it's also how the court operates. >> when you take in the notes in library of congress, the memoranda, the notes back and forth and a lot of stuff is available, i know a lawyer, but i was just fascinated by the human side of it. in many cases, you can see justices have reservations about capital punishment. [inaudible conversations]

>> i didn't know. it was a case i read. i read the rostenkowski both come on mr. chairman. i read that book and tried for the life of me to figure out how you want to present and the rest of the place didn't. i wrote what he did. the siegelman case is interesting because the fact they refused to give information. [inaudible conversations] is just a very fascinating dio and of course abram off was

involved in the money raising. .mac [inaudible] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> i just found it very fascinating when i looked at the facts on the issue of what on earth happens. of course abram off spent all

that money. >> when i got out of morgantown federal prison, that time i did something i swore i wouldn't do, which is to listen to ellen ratner telling me that i needed to do radio. i just need to be quiet and sit around a little bit. she said you had some mixed. his knowledge or working history of politics and government, so do it. the first show we did, i knew thom hartmann was. i got a lot of respect for thom hartmann. today in washington you are to the left or to the right and it doesn't matter how you would be classified, he's fair and honest journalism and is an

accomplished author i've had the privilege to see some of his books. they really went well and i continue to do the whole radio cake. out of west virginia it is interesting thing to do, but after a while i didn't like doing "the daily show." so i continue to talk radio, which i do to this day and i ventured to india for that update. i have a chapter in this book, which i was really delighted to write out incredible india and when i go over there, i stayed about five or seven minutes walk from the dalai lama specimen and it's a mixture of the indians and tibetans everyday. it provided me the opportunity to write this boat because i was able to go for a couple months and come back and between watching my granddaughter,

assistance i do for some people i was able to write this boat and our editor is absolutely amazing. i never thought i would do a book, but my cousin, francis wallace and i was told to republicans. he climbed the phrase to get prayer. that was his successful movie. but my cousin always told me, you need to write a book. i just never thought i'd write one this way. so i didn't do the book of hers. i outlined in it and data with my former chief of staff.

neil and i agreed to do 60 minutes together. we're going to have neil and then you and it is better to have the two of us. it shows the honesty factor. you can say no or vice versa. in my opinion, the two side-by-side with the battery to do that. i went for a one-month trip and saw 60 minutes over there. i make it clear tonight as they do in the book, jack did not do this to me. i did this to myself. so i don't figure saint jack abram off made me have a dinner. but i watched him on the 60 minute and then i started -- i could feel empathy having been imprisoned. but beyond that, i just wondered where jack was going with this version of history i heard him

say i got the short end of that stick in money. but i sat there in all seriousness and thought i want to tell my aunt of it. i wanted to make it more than that. i told this story because i get us constantly. i'm in the district and i get asked all the time, what happened to you? this book tells a complicated story. it's just not as easy as here here i go. it's a complicated story, where i have my part another part to it, so the perfect storm is sorted the way it put together the outside influence is they came in to help with the idiocy i created and also very important to me, our opportunity

that we matched to potentially have a dio for iran would've recognized israel, would have disbanded hezbollah. i sent that deal to the white house and they choose to the torrent. i wanted to state that part, which they read recently made legitimate. it's important for us and i was a part of that. the other part is about morgantown federal prison. i went to the present site, which is very challenging and very fascinating. i sat with a high profile person who i sat back in the finance committee when i was in handcuffs. they said removed the handcuffs to demand. he said he will hear and they

did and he came in and testified on the whole whitewater deal. the second time i was headed to prison. i was a self reporter, like reporting for your own firing squad in allen said you've got to meet webb hubbell. i sat here in washington d.c. i don't how how many hours. three, four, five. i forget. he walked me through how you survive from day one and i was the best amount of time i spend. yesterday the inside as the chief justice of the supreme court who went to prison and he was very empathetic to the plight of a lot of people when i walked out of prison not angry, thinking a former congressman. i won't doubt feeling a bond with a lot of people and i need to tell that in this book and i

have because things are going on inside those walls. i don't expect anybody to have sympathy for me. i have the ability to have a network can stand here tonight and be on television and how writers and i could write a book and tell my story. a lot of people don't have a voice inside those walls. we aware had seen him in beings. this government in the current administration, to have statistics. they took the big drug dealers and put them away. i became friends with the duck offenders. i become a statistic that they're not getting treatment for their addiction and they need to have it. my own personal struggle and i have a message in this book and a say in the beginning that she don't have to be in politics and abuse substances to make your

life go down. i don't care if your waiter or what you do in your life's profession, whatever you are, you can ingest substances into your body. you could lose your focus, not pay attention to what you are doing and go down a path that will cause you a lot of personal problems. a couple of funny stories about the congress and i give credit to some members of congress, which both sides of the aisle, some things that will shock some people. it's pretty nice, but they kind of run thing. i came to a conclusion in the book. i felt compelled to in the conclusion was simple. what we did and our staffs, the

biggest scandal of its time, et cetera. but what we did is codified into a vehicle situation today. i come if i am a lobbyist can take any member of congress and have a fundraiser. i can take you hunting, take it as a case. at least they're getting a little bit of personality. either side of the aisle can do this. i thought john mccain twice. his bill still was worthless. it is as worthless as it was back then. he made the polls, but at the end of the day, the citizens united ruling and lack of a campaign finance bill come you have a situation where super pac comes along. we can pick up karl rove or george soros, but they go after

people. the average member is $3 million, which is $10,000. they go across the street and get on the book you've -- either political party. that doesn't mean they have bad members. i promise you come in many members of congress would like this to change, too. i promise you come in many members of congress would like this to change, too. many members do not find it delightful. so there's a lot of good members. but that comes to conclusions. some staff people with felonies didn't change any name. it might have made people feel more comfortable, but it didn't change things. i admit with a quote i really like them basically to

paraphrase size i had an addiction and today there's another addiction of campaign contributions in the public can do an intervention, make it even better. so i address a lot of issues and i hope it's not looked at as one issue. i spend time with my granddaughter today. i care too to radio with alan rattner stations. a lot of people to the right or left to do than look at their out there and tell people. the journalistic side is critical. i'm not angry at my everybody, but there's something i have to tell. it will cause heartburn i

understand that. this too shall pass. she just didn't tell me it takes this song. i want to thank everybody for coming. [applause] >> i walked into the kiosk is that i'm here report. the card came up inside i know one of your campaign managers in ohio. i said okay, cut down in there. the cards that you have some hate mail from california. you have some hate mail waiting on you. you go through the most embarrassing part of the stripped down and then i got into the intake, down into the courtyard. iraq is the language i do in the book, but said to get away from him. he can find his own way and i'm sitting there not knowing where to go.

they called them pajama pants. another prisoner set of overseer escort? i said i don't know. some little guy in a suit yields compiled language. he took me in the back where the laundry room and the man is sitting there any side, argue the congressman. if said used to be. he said you are a republican, argue. is that republicans put me in the air coming e-mail. he said i was the mayor of east cleveland airball column, i'll get you some clues. >> here's a look at books being published this week.